CATEGORY C: Public Health System Components: Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation's Health - The National Council for Behavioral Health dba the National Council for Mental Wellbeing (National Council) is applying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) funding opportunity, Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health (CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080), to improve organizational and systems infrastructure and performance across the public health system. We will address the workforce capacity-building assistance (CBA) needs of Public Health System Components (Category C). Our population of focus will be community behavioral health organizations (CBHOs) nationwide. We are requesting $200,000 to support this initiative. CBHOs improve outcomes for people with or at risk of mental illness (MI) and substance use disorder (SUD) through prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery services. CBHOs face significant challenges, including underfunding, fragmented systems, and workforce declines that the COVID-19 pandemic and other traumatic health threats have intensified. To address workforce needs, we will establish an enhanced Behavioral Health Training Institute for Health Officials (BHTI), which will train CBHOs and their public health system partners (PHPs) on a set of integrated public health and behavioral health core competencies and cross-cutting skillsets. We will build on our nine years’ experience implementing BHTIs, which have resulted in improved workforce capacity. We aim to achieve the following outcomes: increased availability of and access to CBA services and products; increased awareness of best and promising practices and tools; increased awareness and understanding of recommended processes, policies, and practices within strategic areas; enhanced skill and ability to support decision making in strategic areas; improved organizational and systems capacity to address equity-focused public health priorities; and improved health outcomes and reduced health inequities. We will achieve the outcomes through the following activities: · Develop and refine the BHTI curriculum on evidence-based and informed interventions, addressing health disparities and social determinants of health. · Develop BHTI modules on trauma-informed, recovery-oriented equitable systems and systems of care; focus on trauma-informed and crisis-resilient leadership and workforce and retaining and sustaining a trauma-informed workforce and supportive work environment. · Provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) at Work training. · Launch a learning community that includes an in-person meeting, participation at the National Council’s conference, two affinity group calls, and four webinars to reinforce knowledge and skills development. · Disseminate resources to a national audience, including through two live webinars that will be recorded and made publicly available. This project will be implemented by an experienced team of eight staff members. Our team will collaborate with CDC and national, state, local, territorial, and tribal PHPs, and the project design will prioritize cultural responsiveness. A robust evaluation plan will track processes and outcomes to inform quality improvement efforts. The National Council is well equipped to lead this effort because of our experience implementing nationwide, CDC-funded CBA efforts that strengthen workforce capacity. For 55 years, we have designed and implemented more than 2,000 CBA projects across 50 states and each HHS region. We are a membership organization that drives policy and social change on behalf of more than 3,400 CBHOs and the 10 million people they serve. Through our MHFA program, we have trained over 3 million people to identify and respond to symptoms of MI and SUD. We have the organizational capacity and infrastructure, technology, communications and data systems, and longstanding relationships with public health organizations to successfully achieve the goals of this CBA initiative.
